[ If Jake was being honest with himself, really honest, there was something in him that was wholly incompatible with what the orbs had to offer. That isn't to say it wasn't tempting. Impossibly so, in more ways than Jake could care to count. The chance to do it all again, to do it right, to be prepared in every way he could prepare for the birth of his incredibly unique children and their swift-approaching adulthood. To have the right expectations and not waste a single second learning on the job, to be there for them once they were grown not just as they grew.
It was a temptation. The kind of desire he'd spent an entire lifetime accumulating and then discarding. There was no perfect father, or brother, or life. Regret was as important to the foundation of being alive as breathing; a foundational tool to teach them the very lessons they now wanted to pass along to their past selves.
He shouldn't be here. Not really. He should be back on that rock in the middle of nowhere, breathing his last breath and thinking of his family. But Jake was here, chasing an equally tempting desire -- extra time. The chance to see a version of someone he cared about very deeply grow up into a young man that was, at least for now, okay.
Maybe it wasn't good for Ben to be chasing this kind of regret. Maybe Jake was right to feel an urge to warn him away from it. To advertise the dangers in hoping for something so impossibly uncertain.
Or maybe none of it really mattered at all. Maybe, if the stars aligned, he'd get the same opportunity Jake had been given. A little extra time with the person he loved.
Who was a little yellow dog to rob him of that chance? ]
Yeah, man. [ He agrees, voice warmed with a genuineness of feeling. ] That's all anybody can do.
[ How long they sit there in the now fully restored Ximilia is up to Ben. Jake will keep him in quiet, careful company as long as he needs. ]
time to fall in a heap and die thanks
It was a temptation. The kind of desire he'd spent an entire lifetime accumulating and then discarding. There was no perfect father, or brother, or life. Regret was as important to the foundation of being alive as breathing; a foundational tool to teach them the very lessons they now wanted to pass along to their past selves.
He shouldn't be here. Not really. He should be back on that rock in the middle of nowhere, breathing his last breath and thinking of his family. But Jake was here, chasing an equally tempting desire -- extra time. The chance to see a version of someone he cared about very deeply grow up into a young man that was, at least for now, okay.
Maybe it wasn't good for Ben to be chasing this kind of regret. Maybe Jake was right to feel an urge to warn him away from it. To advertise the dangers in hoping for something so impossibly uncertain.
Or maybe none of it really mattered at all. Maybe, if the stars aligned, he'd get the same opportunity Jake had been given. A little extra time with the person he loved.
Who was a little yellow dog to rob him of that chance? ]
Yeah, man. [ He agrees, voice warmed with a genuineness of feeling. ] That's all anybody can do.
[ How long they sit there in the now fully restored Ximilia is up to Ben. Jake will keep him in quiet, careful company as long as he needs. ]